


Steady Hands

by Lindzzz



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Dragon Sickness, Gen, Implied Feelings, M/M, That sword scene, Vague descriptions of violence, honestly its mainly slashy if you squint, pre slash probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 12:02:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3067142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lindzzz/pseuds/Lindzzz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"There’s hard metal pressed against his middle, and no reason for it to be there."</p><p>I saw a gifset of the scene from DoS with Thorin's first hints of crazy, and remembered how much I am totally into that messed up nonsense.</p><p>So I wrote a quick thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steady Hands

There’s a dragon behind him and hot air on his back, his heart is still pounding through his chest and the arkenstone is a steady weight against his side, so it takes him a few moments to register it.

There’s hard metal pressed against his middle, and no reason for it to be there.

Bilbo blinks down at the sword, vaguely recognizing it as Thorin’s sword, but that doesn’t make sense. And it’s right as he thinks that Thorin wouldn’t hold a sword up to him that the blade turns. Slowly, painfully, turns so the edge bites slightly into his shirt and he steps back a little before he can feel it against his stomach. 

Hot air blows by him and some part of him knows they should be running but Thorin’s sword is held steady to his middle and he stares at it as he steps back, head rushing, blood pounding and roaring in his ears as he tries to understand what’s happening.

“Thorin?”

It’s Thorin’s hand, the strong hand that would reach out to pull him along, that patted him on the back or grasped his shoulder in a friendly greeting. Strong and sure as always as it grips the sword.

Bilbo looks up, and feels his knees nearly give way under his next step back. He stumbles back and looks into Thorin’s eyes. Thorin’s dead, hard eyes.

“Thorin? What-?”

The sword moves and Thorin stares. His usually warm gaze distant, cold and dark. His face flat. Watching Bilbo like he’s a stranger, like he’s some pest in the way and the sword slowly moves and pushes Bilbo back, the edge steady and trained on his middle and Bilbo is painfully aware of how unprotected he is, of how wide the blade is and how easily it would sink into his bowels and slice into him. And he has the feeling Thorin’s face wouldn’t change.

Watch it corrupt his heart.

“Thorin…Thorin the dragon-”

Thorin isn’t blinking and Bilbo has the wild thought that maybe this isn’t Thorin, that this is some trick of Smaug’s, a bit of magic he hadn’t known to prepare for. Because Thorin never had such dead eyes, never was something dangerous never was something Bilbo would think to fear. 

Even at his highest rage, even when he’s looming and snarling, Thorin has never been something to fear. He’s intimidating, but safe. He’s always been safe. Something safe and protecting and sure, something Bilbo had always trusted entirely.

The tip of the sword is steady as stone as it goes to press against his stomach.

The dragon roars, and it’s like something cracks. The sword drops away from Bilbo’s middle and he can actually see the light come back to Thorin’s eyes, see the way he gasps like he’s come up for air and the flat expression break into a wide eyed confusion, head whipping around towards the roaring and the fire. Thorin instantly shifts his grip on the sword, moves in front of Bilbo like nothing had happened.

The sword is out before Bilbo, a guard now, a block between the hobbit and the dragon, and Bilbo stares and feels his heart pound as Thorin seamlessly slips back into the protector.

The confusion is lost in the madness that follows. In the roaring and fire and terror through the mountain. Lost in Thorin’s hand, the one that had gripped the sword without a tremor, reaching out and pressing on Bilbo’s back, urging him to run, to keep going, making sure he’s on his way out before Thorin rushes to whatever his mad plan is.

It’s lost in the screaming of Laketown, in the horror as Bilbo tries not to think of the people he’d met, the jokes he’d shared before they left, of Bard and his children in their little house on the water.

He remembers it when he glances back, and Thorin stares at the mountain, hands listless at his sides, eyes blank.

He remembers it when they’re back in the horde, Thorin walking down the stairs with wide eyes and a shaking reverence. 

“It’s here, it’s in here somewhere. In all the gold. It’s here it was always here…”

Bilbo swallows, feels the beginnings of something cold in his gut. “Thorin?”

Thorin starts a little bit, and when he turns to look at Bilbo, his eyes are wide and fevered. “It’s in here Bilbo. The arkenstone. We need to find it. I need to find it…”

Watch it drive him mad.

“Thorin…about…about earlier? Before the dragon?”

Thorin blinks at him, eyes glazed, eyebrows coming together briefly in confusion, like he’s not sure what Bilbo’s saying. 

“Thorin?”

Thorins face breaks into a smile, and Bilbo feels the coldness sink deeper down. It’s a distant, blinking smile, dazed and far away and shining. It’s so far from the warm flash of teeth that he’s come to cherish that Bilbo flinches back a little when a large hand (the same that had gripped the sword the same that had pressed a blade to his middle, steady as stone) rests on his shoulder.

“Have you been worrying about that my friend?”

“Ah, yes…actually. A bit. Yes.”

Thorins smile widens, his eyes ablaze. “It’s alright Bilbo. I forgive you. It’s all forgiven.”

“What?”

“It’s alright that you couldn’t find the arkenstone. You’ve done more than your fair part. Not many could face a dragon, and you brought it out to be killed. And now we can find it. So no harm is done.”

The hand on his shoulder squeezes, reassuring and warm and Thorin’s smile is like a twist of features trying to replicate the friendly smile Bilbo’s come to know. Thorin holds him there for a second, then turns and goes back to the treasure and the cold seeps through Bilbo’s innards as he realizes Thorin didn’t remember any of it.

The cold grows more, spreads through his veins as Bilbo looks at Thorin walking slowly through the gold and realizes that his friend is already lost.

**Author's Note:**

> I mean I guess since I see Safe and Distant as being within the movie events we can say this happened in that verse as well just to make things more fun.


End file.
